Hiroshi Yamauchi

Hiroshi was born in Haiku Maui on November 15, 1932, the last of eleven children by Tsuru and Shoki Yamauchi. His childhood was spent, barefoot and care-free under the guidance of his older brothers and sisters. After graduating from the old Maui High School in 1950, to avoid being drafted, he enrolled at the University of Hawaii and through the ROTC program he went on to serve in Korea. He settled in the San Francisco Bay area working for the Ortho Chemical Company. There he met and married Judy, a chemist for the competing Shell Development Company in Emeryville.

He then went back to school, earning a PhD at UC, Berkeley in 1968. He then accepted a position at the University of Hawaii, where he remained for over 30 years, retiring as Professor Emeritus in 1999. While he was at UH, he was awarded two separate Fullbright Research Fellowships, the first to Kyoto University where he studied water pollution in Lake Biwa and the second to Tokyo University where he examined the Japanese rice policy. While in Japan he was given a top award from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Nihon Gakujutsu Shinkokai) for his academic contributions. He was invited to numerous universities in many countries, such as China, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Korea, and other areas of the Pacific Basin. In recognition of his contribution to the US-Japan relationship, he was also nominated for an Imperial decoration award, but he declined to be considered because, at that time, Judy was working for the Japanese Consulate in Honolulu.

Then in 2003, he and Judy moved to Portland to be near their daughter and granddaughter. Hroshi described himself as a day-dreamer with lofty goals and he often ended up trying to do seemingly impossible things. He especially liked to take on projects which no one else wanted to do – especially if someone told him it was not a good idea.

Hiroshi felt he was living under a lucky star. He would recount the number of times he was in near-fatal accidents or events from which he survived. And he was quick to take advantage of good fortune which often seemed to come his way.

Despite all his accomplishments, he was a very modest person, never taking himself too seriously and rarely becoming upset over things. In fact, his wife Judy says that in 50 years of marriage, Hiroshi never once became angry with her.

Hiroshi’s name means broad or wide, which fit him perfectly since he was extremely open-mindedness. He had no hang-ups and was completely non-judgmental of others. He accepted others as they were and he would sometimes even bring people he had just met home for dinner. So it is very appropriate that he has been given a new Buddhist name which means broad-minded which will surely serve him well in his new life.